The Kenyan team to the Paris Olympics is back in the country. The team did commendably well by winning a total of 11 medals including four golds.
The team emerged 17th globally out of the 84 countries that placed on the medals table. A total of 206 countries participated, meaning a full 112 countries won zero medals. Kenya topped the continental chart. It was second to the USA on the athletics medals table.
To hear the criticism that has been directed at the teams’ performance, one might be forgiven for thinking they were hearing about say, Team Tanzania, Team Nigeria, or Team Tunisia. Kenyans have gotten spoilt by too much success in sports, especially athletics.
Kenyans have had so much success in sports that they have simply become ingrates! They have forgotten how to appreciate the efforts of the country’s sportsmen and women. It is doubtful whether those big mouths criticising Kenya’s performance can even be defined by what they mean by “success.” In other words, how many medals would have satisfied them in terms of performance by Team Kenya?
If Kenyans want to be reminded of what national honour is when a national beats the world, they need to go no further than Botswana. Letsile Tebogo, a 21-year prodigy from Botswana, stunned the world when he crushed pre-race favourite, American Noah Lyles, by winning the gold medal in the 200-metre dash. He did this with imperious ease!
Botswana was in raptures. President Mokgweetsi Masisi declared the afternoon off for citizens to celebrate and welcome the Olympic team home. He was personally at the airport adorned in team colours to welcome them team back home. The team, escorted by a phalanx of police outriders, then went for a presentation at the stadium in Botswana where thousands of cheering fans were waiting. It was a spectacle like no other!
So, what are Kenyans criticizing?
Kenya ranked 17th globally out of the 84 countries that made it to the medal table. The country’s tally of 11 medals was double the number won by any other African country. The second African country was Algeria at No. 39, with two golds, and a total of three medals. The third African country was South Africa at No. 44, with one gold, and six medals in total. The other African countries were out of sight!
In Africa, Kenya topped, followed by Algeria, with South Africa in third place. Kenya’s perennial pain in the butt, Ethiopia, was a distant fourth with one gold and four medals in total. But not even this crushing of the country’s perennial rival could satisfy these critics.
Kenyans must begin to appreciate that all countries go to these championships to win. Kenya, being the clear leader in athletics globally, is the prime target for all other countries. So, while Kenya will lose some coveted races, as painfully happened with the men’s 3,000 metre steeplechase that Kenyans have come to regard as their birthright, it will make other strides, like the shock golds in 5,000m and 10,000m races by 24-year old, Beatrice Chebet.
So, instead of whining, Kenyans should appreciate the huge sacrifices it takes for athletes to bring home medals, especially the coveted golds. Cheer them on, so that their successors feel motivated to wear the national uniform.
Right now, there must be a feeling of bemusement, if not outright despondency, when Team Kenya sees their medal winning compatriots from other countries being showered with adulation, while they receive unwarranted criticism back home despite a splendid performance by all objective metrics.
Kenyans must get rid of this entitlement mindset.
This is not to say that Team Kenya should rest on their laurels. Far from it. After the dust has settled from the Paris Olympics, Team Kenya must go back to class to seek ways of staying ahead and pursue even greater dominance for all sports disciplines in which Kenya entered an Olympic team.
Gathu Kaara can be reached at [email protected]
